New Jersey Devils' Tomas Tatar, left, battles against Calgary Flames' Nikita Zadorov during second period NHL hockey action in Calgary, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal
CALGARY – Fabian Zetterlund scored twice including the overtime winner on Saturday to lead the New Jersey Devils to a sixth straight NHL victory, winning 4-3 over the Calgary Flames.
Nathan Bastian, Fabian Zetterlund and Miles Wood also scored for New Jersey (9-3-0), which has won nine of its last 10. Jesper Bratt was held off the scoresheet, snapping his franchise-record point streak to open the season at 11 games.
Nazem Kadri, Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov scored for Calgary (5-4-1), which wraps up an eight-game homestand with four consecutive losses.
Vitek Vanecek made 27 stops. He improves to 5-1-0.
Jacob Markstrom, who falls to 4-3-1, had 31 saves.
The deciding goal came on a power play when Elias Lindholm was sent off for interference. With possession in the Flames end, former Flame Dougie Hamilton threaded a cross-ice pass to Zetterlund, who one-timed it over Markstrom’s shoulder.
Markstrom had come up big seven minutes into the third period to keep the score 3-3, stopping Bratt on a partial breakaway and then seconds later, he flashed his blocker to deny Jack Hughes who got in alone.
The Flames entered the third down 3-2, but pulled even at 3:12 when Zadorov jumped up into the rush and deftly redirected Blake Coleman’s centring pass past Vanecek.
Down by two goals after 20 minutes, Calgary climbed to within one early in the second on a critical sequence in the game.
After killing off a Devils’ power play, which could have blown the game open for the visitors, Noah Hanifin stepped out of the penalty box just as the puck was cleared, resulting in a two-man breakaway with Tyler Toffoli. They failed to convert that initial rush, but Hanifin found Lindholm trailing the play and he knocked in his third of the season.
Calgary got off to a fast start with Kadri sending a backhander past Vanecek just 1:29 into the game.
But the lead was short-lived with Bastian tying it at 4:27. When both Flames defencemen Connor Mackey and Rasmus Andersson chased Hughes behind the net, it left the slot wide open for Bastian and he buried Hughes’ centring feed to extend his point-streak to a career-best four games.
Three minutes later, another defensive breakdown allowed Zetterlund to tap in a cross-crease feed from Tomas Tatar.
The Devils surged in front 3-1 at 16:38 when Woods got on the end of a perfect pass from Michael McLeod and one-timed it into the top corner to extend his point streak to four games, one short of his career best.
POWER OUTAGE
The Flames went 0-for-2 with the man advantage and have now gone four games without a power-play goal going 0-for-12 over that period. It comes after Calgary opened the season with power-play goals in five of their first six games going 7-for-23 over that span.
WESTERN CANADA SWEEP
After defeating the Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday and the Oilers 4-3 on Thursday, it’s only the second time the Devils have come out West and won all three stops in Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary. The only other time was over 25 years ago during the 1996-97 season.
DEPLETED D
Already without Chris Tanev (upper body), who missed his second game, the Flames lost defenceman Michael Stone after one shift on Saturday. Flying out Sunday for a road trip of three games in four days starting on Monday, Calgary may need to recall someone from their AHL affiliate, which is also based in Calgary and are currently at home.
UP NEXT
Devils: It’s another matchup with the Flames, who visit the Prudential Center on Tuesday to launch a three-game homestand.
Flames: Open a three-game Eastern road trip on Monday against the New York Islanders.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2022.
